If you’d like to sample some wine as part of the Christmas preparations, or if you’re still disappointed about missing last year’s Good Wine Show, or our grand opening in September – we have something for you.  Keep reading.

On Saturday 20th November, between 12 and 6pm, Curious Wines will be holding a Christmas wine fair upstairs at our Kinsale Road premises.

It’s an opportunity for us to show off our range of established favourites as well as the many new wines that we’ve added to the list during the year.

It’s an opportunity for you to pre-select the perfect wines to suit your celebrations.  We’ll have recommendations for party wines, the best bottles for gifts, and also some ideas for specially good wines to grace the Christmas table, whatever you’re eating.  An hour or two in November spent choosing the wines you like best is good fun, and takes away the anxieties that go with making hasty decisions at the last minute.   There will be dozens of wines open to try, some tasty bites from local food producers, and as many special offers, spot prizes and unrepeatable discounts as we think we can get away with.

If you spend a hundred euro or more, we’ll even refund the €15 you spent on your admission ticket.

In case you already know what you like and don’t wish to participate in the tasting, it’ll be business as usual on the ground floor – no ticket required!

Places are limited, so don’t delay if you’d like to join us.  Call us on 021 432 0233 or make your reservation online.

It’s give-away time in November as we took Curious Wines on the road!

As promised, all visitors to the Good Wine Show were entered into a draw to win a couple of unique mixed cases, featuring four wines each from the three organising wine merchants, Curious Wines, Bubblebrothers and Karwig Wines. Additionally, we had four cases of New Zealand wine to give away, for those purchasing at the Good Wine Show as well as our first Dublin tasting at the start of the month.

So, the lucky winners, picked at random:

A mixed case of Good Wine Show featured wines: Aidan Horgan and Alan Mansfield.

Two cases of New Zealand wines featured at Good Wine Show: Michael Ryan

Two cases of New Zealand wines featured at NZ Dublin Tasting: Michael Woods

Congratulations guys, you’ve some festive cheer on the way to you!

Oh, and one other person that will be celebrating with a bottle of Premier Cru Rosé Champagne. Geoffrey Philips was a wise man putting his name down for our newsletter at the Good Wine Show – congrats to Geoffrey also.

If you missed out this time round, fret not. We run a monthly contest for our newsletter subscribers. All you have to do is sign up for monthly love in your inbox, and you’re in to win!

After five months in the making, Cork City finally got a taste of the best wine in the land (quite literally) when three Cork wine merchants, Curious Wines, Karwig Wines and Bubblebrothers, pulled together to show over 100 different wines at the Good Wine Show.

Thankfully, someone remembered to bring a camera. Brian Clayton (the man who will do just about anything for good coffee and good wine) has kindly thrown a few pictures our way.

For many, it was the perfect start to the weekend.

Curious Mike caught pulling his infamous grin.

Anthony Creswell of Ummera Smoked Products showing off his impressive range.

Above, the busy tasters got to work.

As well as the fabulous foodies, we were also joined by John McDonnell of Wine Australia, and among the other familiar faces, Frank O’Brien of Robert Francis Wine and Conor O’Neill, who at the time of writing this has just posted a review on his Bandon blog.

The feedback during and since the show has been tremendous. The wine, the food, the atmosphere, the venue – everything was spot on. A big thank you to all those who helped out on the day, and of course, to all those attendees.

Pictures courtesy of brianclayton.ie

After some serious consideration, the wines that are to be tasted from the Curious range at this weekend’s Good Wine Show can finally be unveiled. This astonishing mix features no less than 36 wines from eight different countries, providing a clatter of different grapes varieties, regions and price points.

With the addition of more quality wines from Karwig’s and Bubblebrothers, there will be over 100 different wines on show, making for what will undoubtedly be one of the greatest wine drinking experiences Ireland will have to offer this year.

Argentina
Tesoro de los Andes Shiraz Malbec

Australia
Heartland Dolcetto Lagrein
Langmeil Three Gardens
Glaetzer Wallace

Chile
Sierra Grande Cabernet Sauvignon
Santa Alicia Reserva Chardonnay
Santa Alicia Reserva Carmenere
Santa Alicia Gran Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon
Tabali Reserve Syrah

France
Cuvee Jean-Paul Blanc Sec
Touraine Domaine Pre Baron
Le Fou Pinot Noir
Dignite Syrah
Dignite Viognier
Domaine de Pellehaut Ampelomeryx
Chateau Bauduc Bordeaux Blanc Sec
Chateau Bauduc Clos de Quinze
Moillard Fleurie
Chablis Domaine de la Motte
Chateauneuf du Pape Domaine Chante Cigale
Aureus Cremant de Loire

Italy
Farnese Pinot Grigio
Farnese Montepulciano d’Abruzzo
Doricum Nero d’Avola
Farina Ripasso Montecorna
Domenico de Bertiol Prosecco
Borgo Magredo Prosecco

New Zealand
Tussock Sauvignon Blanc
Waipara Springs Sauvignon Blanc
Waipara Springs Premo Dry Riesling
Muddy Water James Hardwick Riesling
Greenhough Pinot Noir
Waipara Springs Premo Pinot Noir

South Africa
Paarl Heights Chenin Blanc

Spain
Quinta el Refugio Tinto
Valdamor Albarino

All wines available for tasting over the two days will be available with special show-exclusive offers attached, so don’t forget to bring the credit card!

Tickets are still available to purchase from goodwineshow.com

The three gents pictured below are (right to left) Joe Karwig of Karwig Wines, Billy Forrester of Bubble Brothers, and our very own plonker… ahem, I mean chief taster, Michael Kane, owner and founder of Curious Wines.

The shoot was done at Cork Bonded Warehouse on Tuesday morning. The Irish Examiners Blake Creedon has already managed to get hold of a cool photo, which he has included in this blog post.

In case you missed something, here it is in a nutshell…

“Three Irish wine merchants have joined forces to bring a very special wine tasting event to Cork this autumn. Taking place in Cork’s Clarion Hotel on the 13th and 14th of November, the innovative collaboration between Bubble Brothers, Curious Wines and Karwig Wines shows the flair and energy that sets independent wine merchants apart and makes their wine selections such a refreshing change. The Good Wine Show will give guests the opportunity to make their choice from over a hundred wines open for sampling, comparison and purchase at attractive discounts exclusive to the event.”

The lads have been working hard in the run up to the show (looks like they’ve been having fun too), but it finally looks like everything is falling into place. Ticket sales are doing really well and we expect a big surge before a sell-out. Many people will be making the journey from all over the country, including Dublin and Galway. It’s just fantastic to see such an interest in this kind of event.

Everything is geared and ready to go, including an obscene amount of wine that needs to be tackled. Well, what are you waiting for?

Click here for more information and ticket sales.

Images by Gerard McCarthy (087-853-7228)

We like to think we give away fairly nice prizes here at Curious for our ever-popular monthly contests, but this is probably the best (or at least poshest) prize pack we’ve offered:

To celebrate the launch of The Good Wine Show we’re offering you a chance to win a Wine Show Weekend in Cork complete with free entry to the Good Wine Show on November 13th & 14th, one night in a luxurious Superior Room at the award-winning Clarion hotel, and a personalised wine and food Welcome Hamper for your room:

• Two tickets to The Good Wine Show, good for both days of the show
• One night at the 4* Clarion Hotel in Cork, where the show is being held
• One romantic Welcome Hamper complete with wine, glasses, bottle opener, and tasty treats from Cork’s finest local food purveyors.

Unlike some of our other contests, this one does have some terms and conditions attached to it. The prize is not transferable – win and use the whole kit and kaboodle or lose it, baby! The hotel stay is for a maximum of two people for one night on Friday, November 13th 2009 or Saturday November 14th 2009 – we’ll make arrangements directly with the winner and you can choose which night you’d like to stay.

How to Enter: All you have to do to enter the contest is join (or already be a member of) our monthly newsletter. We’ll draw a winner at random on the 7th of October when our next newsletter goes out. You are of course completely welcome to un-join the minute after the draw is done, but we only send one newsletter per month and we like giving discounts and free stuff to our members, so we hope you’ll stick around!

PS: Congratulations to last month’s winner David Conway who was drawn this morning!

And on the seventh day, she rested…

Well, actually, it’s even more impressive than seven days. Five days after announcing our plans for the Good Wine Show, to be held in Cork city 13-14 November, you can now go online and buy tickets from the official Good Wine Show website, with more details on the hottest wine event of the year below.

What’s in store?

Join us for one day or two to sample your choice of more than 100 wines and a selection of some of Cork’s finest food at The Good Wine Show. Whether you’re a wine connoisseur, a casual wine drinker, a gourmet foodie or a holiday shopper, you’ll enjoy a friendly, relaxed and fun atmosphere to taste, nibble and shop in at the centrally located Clarion Hotel in Cork’s city centre.

Friday, November 13th, 2009

The Good Wine Show is open from 3 PM – 8 PM.

• Wine Tastings: All day.
• Food Purveyors: All day.
• Prize Draw: 6 PM – Drawing for a “Best in Show” mixed case of 12 worldly, wonderful and very drinkable wines courtesy of all three wine merchants.

Saturday, November 14th, 2009

The Good Wine Show is open from 11 AM – 4 PM.

• Wine Tastings: All day.
• Food Purveyors: All day.
• Prize Draw: 3 PM – Drawing for a Luxury Food and Drink hamper packed with posh nibbles, three bottles of wine and your very own set of wine accessories.

You can purchase tickets for one day or two on the Good Wine Show website, on our own website or from Bubble Brothers, or from these retail outlets around Cork. Tickets are priced at €15 for one or €25 for both days.